SCRIBES OF ANGEL
FanFic
________________________________
by Dana
Summary: Buffy and
Angel's teenage daughter finds out. Needless to say what.
Author Notes: Thanks to Rakshar for beta-ing this, even if it meant abandoning
your twin ("Use the force! Use the force! What? Oh, right, must
beta.") Sorry, but I decided to just stick with Rachel. And. well,
everyone, just know that Buffy and Angel aren't together in this fic, but
everything's still okay. It's complicated. I can give you a whole character
analysis about this fic (but I won't). Enjoy.
Disclaimer: The characters from BtVS and A:TS are owned by Joss Whedon&co.
I'm not really sure of who &co are.
Sunnydale is a very weird town. Weirder than most, I mean.
It can be hard to deal with. Last week, for instance, I discovered my dad is a
vampire.
That was blunt. I'll start at the beginning.
My name is Rachel Summers. I'm 16 years old, don't have a
boyfriend, I like Corn Flakes, Tzhaikovski and I Love Lucy reruns. My parents
are separated. I live with my mom in Sunnydale, my dad lives in LA, and I get
to see him about once a month. We both go to movies, play basketball, take long
walks. Lots of Kodak moments.
So far, relatively normal.
A month ago this man came to me. He introduced himself as
Edward Cartwrite, but I can call him Eddie, and said I was the Chosen One. With
capitals. Then he dragged me to a nearby graveyard. Now, I'm sure you can
understand why I freaked.
So, I kneed you-can-call-me-Eddie in the crotch and ran.
Straight into a tree. That's the kind of thing that happens in Sunnydale. When
I came to, my vision was kinda blurry, and I remember seeing an anxious face
leaning over me from behind and hearing "Miss Summers? Are you all
right?"
I vaguely recognized the voice and screamed. Thing is, in
Sunnydale no one really notices if you scream. It's a defense mechanism. You
hear someone scream, you know to stay clear of the area.
The guy clamped his hand over my mouth to shut me up and
said, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." Like I was gonna buy that.
That was when the strangest thing happened.
I am not an excessively strong girl. I mean, I'm no
weakling, but I'm not an athlete either. I go to the gym once a week to stay in
shape, but normally prefer pepper spray to kung-fu. And I am definitely no
match for a buff, thirtyish male who clearly took the right vitamins every
morning.
Or so I thought.
It really didn't take much of an effort. I just kicked up
my legs and bam!- he was out. And my legs shouldn't have even reached that far
behind my head, let alone with such force. Sufficient to say I was surprised.
Unfortunately, I also felt sorry for the guy. His forehead
was turning into a really nasty color, and I started thinking that maybe he
really had been harmless. By now it was getting dark, and Sunnydale is the
creepiest place at night. Now that I was feeling all guilty about it I wasn't
gonna leave Eddie there all alone. I figured I'd stay for a couple more minutes
till he woke up and then help him to a more populated area, because somehow,
and don't ask me how, we had managed to get ourselves alarmingly close to the
outskirts of town. You know, "where the bad stuff happens."
I waited. And waited some more. I must have really hit this
guy hard. At the time it didn't occur to me to question why I myself had not
even a bump from my encounter with the tree.
I was still waiting when I heard a twig snap behind me,
followed by a chilling chuckle. Of course. The one time I was trying to be a
Good Samaritan- well, except for knocking out Possibly Good Guy Eddie- a
psychotic killer would come for me. Funny how that was the first possibility
that popped into my head.
Turned out it was much worse. A tall man with terrifying,
grotesque features growled loudly before attacking me. I was at a loss of what
to do. Helplessly, I tried to fight him off, but that momentary strength I'd
had earlier seemed to have vanished. All the while I kept trying to figure out what
the hell was wrong with the man's face. Was it some kind of disease or
something?
Right at the point where I was so exhausted that I was
going to give up, Eddie rose with a sharp weapon clutched in his hand.
Wonderful, I thought. Not only did I get into all this trouble for staying with
Eddie, he turns out to be in league with the rabies man and now the two of them
are going to gang up on me. Oddly, I was feeling a bit disappointed that my
life wasn't flashing in front of my eyes, which was a very inappropriate thing
to think at the time.
Eddie sneaked up behind the attacker, who was so focused on
me he didn't notice him. Then, to my complete astonishment, he thrust the
weapon into the guy's back. The man's face twisted- even more, that is- and he
promptly disintegrated.
I can't say that was the reaction I'd been expecting.
Wearily and warily, I listened to Eddie explain about
Watchers and Slayers, vampires and monsters, and lots of other stuff that were
much scarier than even a Grimm Brothers fairy tale.
When I returned home that day, I lied to my mother.
Fine, fine, it wasn't all that dramatic, really. You'd
think I'd never lied to my mother before. I mean, she's my mother. She's there
to be deceived. I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten the room with the window that
outlooks the big oak if she hadn't meant me to sneak out at least once. My
mom's cool.
However, this was the first time in my life I had kept
something this significant from her, and it felt strange to be carrying this
huge secret and not being able to tell anybody. Ever.
The next week I was out every day after school. I'm a
fairly active girl, so mom didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. The
week after that I started going out every night too. On the third night Mom
said she was worried I was out for so long after dark, so after that I took
care to sneak out only after I was sure she was asleep. The big oak proved to
be extraordinarily handy.
It was scary at first. I had no experience at fighting, and
felt really clumsy every time another punching bag burst. But Eddie said I'd
improve in time. He said I'd receive my powers gradually. First strength, and
then healing abilities, agility, alertness, coordination, hearing, and all the
other bonuses, until finally I'd get the power of sensing vampires. At first it
would feel very intense, but the more experience I'd get the more natural it
will feel, until at last I'd simply know exactly where every vamp was in the
near vicinity.
I didn't really understand the significance of everything
that happened until I staked my first vampire. That was when I realized that my
life had changed forever. I was no longer a normal teenage girl. I was a
killer.
Eddie tried to convince me this wasn't true, that I wasn't
killing because vampires weren't alive to begin with. That I was saving lives.
I realized the truth in this. But deep down inside I felt
horrible every time I drove a stake into a vampire's chest, because no matter
how fiercely it fought, or how loud it growled, or how badly it hurt me- it
still looked human. That's what made the difference.
I started feeling bad. I wasn't getting enough sleep at
night, I was worried about everything, my untrained body was tiring and my
grades were dropping. Granted, not many grades can drop in three weeks but hey,
I flunked a quizlette.
My mom noticed the change. Not the quizlette, of course.
She was way prouder than any mom should be of my Bs and took great care to
always hide all her high school report cards at the bottom of a locked chest in
the basement. But she mainly noticed my extremely cranky attitude. She tried to
talk to me, and that frustrated me all the more since I couldn't tell her
anything.
In the end she decided maybe some quality time with my dad
would help. Dad's good at making people feel better.
It really goes deeper than that, though. I read a poem one
about a man who dreamt one night of the path he had walked in his life with
God. He noticed that there were usually two sets of footprints, but in lowest
times of his life, when he almost despaired, he found only one set. He shouted to
God and said "You promised you'd always be with me. Why did you abandon me
when I needed you most?" And God said "What you saw were not the
footsteps of yourself walking alone, but the footsteps of myself as I carried
you during your hard times."
That story always reminded me of Dad. He cares so much...
Even though he hardly sees me, he knows so much about me, and he almost always
knows just what to do and just what to say. That's why I was glad to go. I
mean, Mom's great too, of course, but with my dad it's. . . different. Eddie
said it was okay to leave because he wasn't going to stay in Sunnydale anyway
that week, so I wouldn't be patrolling. He was leaving for a Watchers' meeting
somewhere in Ohio.
So I went to LA for the most surprising weekend of my life,
and that says a lot.
The drive took an hour. I'm very straightforward about the
fact hat I cannot wait to get my license just so I can escape my mother's
maniacal driving. Grandma told me Mom had passed the test on her 11th try so
she's really experienced, which doesn't really comfort me all that much.
We arrived at Dad's apartment a bit late, because of an
argument I had with her about where she's allowed to park. Honestly, I need a
license. He was at his office, so I took out my key and we went inside. Dad has
the tidiest place, it's amazing. Like it's right out of a home decorator
magazine- everything has it's place, and he knows just where that is. It's all
orderly, I think it has to do with that stuffy Wyndham Price guy he works with.
Maybe it rubbed off on him.
Apparently Mom hadn't told him we were coming, so she
seamed a bit nervous, but that's nothing new. Their meetings often had that
little bit of tension, but all in all they were friendly. She said she'd stay
with me till he showed up to make sure everything was okay. We ordered Chinese,
since Mom found almost nothing in the fridge. Of course, now I know why.
After dinner I watched some TV, and finally got tired of
waiting and went to bed.
Dad came in at about 2 AM. I heard Mom explain why we were
here through the door. He seemed okay with it, and they talked quietly for
awhile- about life, about work, about me.
I got up just to say hi, but I was feeling kinda dizzy.
Tiredly, I stumbled to the living room, where I saw my mom and dad sitting
together on the couch, their faces relaxed, and for one swift second I wished
with all my heart that my parents would live together, that we'd be a happy
family-
-but I didn't have much time to dwell on that thought,
because one second later I felt a sharp pain in my side, like I'd gone swimming
right after eating a huge Sub.
"Mom!" I gasped, and she suddenly noticed I was
there and quickly ran over. I doubled up and wrapped my arms around my waist.
She was asking me questions, where did it hurt, what had happened, but I was
only paying attention to the pain. Then Dad was there, and my muscles cramped
up even more and I almost cried. I felt his strong arms pick me up and lay me
on my bed. Then he left for some wet towels or something, and suddenly my
muscles relaxed. It was so relieving for a moment I couldn't say anything. Then
I told my mom,
"It's okay now."
She was sitting by me, stroking my hair, and she glanced up
quickly. "What was it?"
"I don't know, it felt like my whole stomach clenched
up, and then it passed."
We talked about it for a while. When Dad reentered the room
the pain resurfaced, but it wasn't as strong now, I could still talk. I was
lying on the bed, with Mom sitting next to me. Dad was at the desk. They talked
softly, trying not to wake me up, but of course I wasn't really asleep. At one
point I felt the bed shift as Mom rose; she was going home. I muttered
"bye, Mom," and heard her reply and leave.
I heard Dad get up and do some stuff- I have no idea what.
Then the bed shifted again and I knew he was there. His hand gently touched my
face and I sighed, my pain becoming secondary to the fact that I was with my
dad. I love him so much.
He continued to just sit by my as I squirmed and shifted,
trying to find a position which would hurt less, when there was a knock on the
door. Dad left for the door, and my pain eased again for the second time. I
closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep before the pain returned, and faintly
heard Mom's voice mumbling at the doorway, followed by Dad's amused chuckle.
"Buffy, you're not supposed to park where it's painted
red." I had to smile at that. Mom is so clueless. And I so totally told
her so.
"Hey, I know how to park, okay? It's just that the
tow-people were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway-"
"You wanna spend the night here?" A pause.
"Sure, I'll make your bed."
I fell asleep a little while after that.
When I woke up it was the middle of the night. What woke me
was another almost unbearable cramp at my side, which grew stronger and then
weaker by the second. I tossed and turned, sweating, until I decided on getting
up to wash my face. The moment I reached the bathroom, though, I felt better. I
washed my face. When I climbed into bed the pain returned. Maybe it was
something in the room, I thought, or some kind of allergy. I walked away from
the bed and everything was all right again. This was definitely giving me the
creeps. The closer I was to the wall, the stronger the feeling grew. I
experimented for a bit before I got the brilliant idea of looking out the
window for the cause. The weather was nice and stormy, and the occasional roar
of thunder wasn't helping my nerves. I had to pull my face up close to see
outside through the blurring raindrops.
Another hideous face was pushed up against the window,
staring straight at me.
I jumped and swallowed a scream; my parents were still
asleep. My skin crawled as I watched, heart pounding, the vampire outside run
with a start. And my pain disappeared.
That was when it clicked. This was my last power. Whenever
I felt the pain it meant that a vampire was in the area, and this discovery
meant one obvious thing: vampires were hunting my father.
The thought scared me more than anything. Had they been
there all night? Yes, the feeling didn't start just now. What would have
happened if I hadn't been here this weekend? I didn't even want to think about
that. The only thing I could do now was get to them before they got to Dad.
As quietly as I could I shed my nightgown and put on warm
sweats and a pair of boots. Having brought no stakes-gee, Rach, that was smart-
I counted on the small trees near Dad's building for weapons. With all the
stealth I could manage with my minimal training, I sneaked out the window into
the cold, wet night.
Finding the vamp was harder than I thought. At first I
tried to smell him, but the rain made that difficult and anyway I felt like a
terrier. He hadn't left any obvious trail, either. Finally, I settled on
closing my eyes and concentrating real hard, relaxing my body. Slowly I began
to feel a slight pounding above my waist and centered my thoughts on the
direction I thought it might be coming from. When I neared the corner of a dark
alley the ache grew stronger, and I entered a small park- perfect for laying an
ambush.
I was totally soaked by now, and as I broke some branches
off a low tree I hoped I'd be able to fight with both the pain and the-ugh-
puddles.
I waited behind some bushes for a while and eventually
decided to attack. I searched for vampires and found, to my astonishment, four.
It was my first battle alone and wow, it was exhilarating. Baby, I kicked their
dusty little asses like a pro.
Gotta work on those puns some more.
The night's work done within under an hour, I began feeling
tired again and headed towards the apartment, twirling a stake in my hand, but
as I approached the place it dawned on me that something was wrong. Instead of
feeling at ease, my muscles tensed and my stomach started to hurt again. I
froze as panic gripped me. What if a vampire had somehow managed to get in the
apartment? Because sure as hell, that's what it felt like.
I ran the last few yards to my window, but it was closed.
Damn. Trying to build up energy, I sprinted towards the main entrance, hoping
the door wasn't locked and clenching my stake in a position ready to thrust. I
was definitely getting closer to the vampire, I could feel it.
With a sharp kick I burst open the door, not caring now if
my parents woke up. The vampire was directly in front of me and in one swift
motion I leaped, knocking him on his back, and brought down the stake with
deadly accuracy.
That's when I realized that this vampire was my father.
At the last possible instant I twisted my arm, driving the
stake through the thick carpet, and as an afterthought positioned myself above
him so he couldn't move. Then the situation sunk in. I had failed. My father
was dead.
I felt myself pale, and suddenly I felt really weak, but
kept pressing his body against the floor.
All this happened in about two seconds from when I opened
the door, so it was only now when Dad spoke.
In a stunned voice he whispered "no."
Mom ran into the room then. She must have heard the noise,
I dunno. But she grabbed me with surprising strength and with a glance at the
door demanded to know what the hell was going on.
I was really feeling terrible now, with overwhelming grief
combined with pain, nausea and fear, and I stumbled in front of her to shield
her from Dad. Mom tried to push me aside, but I wouldn't give in.
Dad rose with an expression I had never seen on his face
before. His eyes were the darkest black imaginable, and there was so much anger
in his face he was more threatening than any vampire I had ever met. His fists
were tight and his jaw was clenched, like he was somehow trying to control his
feelings, but wouldn't manage to hold them in much longer.
I was afraid.
Mom spoke to him with worry. "What's wrong?"
With a rush I snapped at her. "Mom, get away from
here, he's a-"
But my words were unheard over the sound of the kitchen
counter collapsing under a powerful blow from my father. With a string of
unintelligible curses he pounded his fists on the wall, taking out his rage or
frustration with such violence that I was terrified of what he would do to me
and Mom. My eyes darted around the room, looking for a weapon.
Mom's eyes were wide and she managed to twist out of my
protective grasp, running over to him and grabbing his fists before he did any
more damage. Surprisingly, he surrendered to her touch, and that registered as
strange in my mind. Such a strong demon should never have yielded to someone
like my mother. Something was wrong.
Through clenched teeth, I saw him whisper something to my
mother that made her look sharply at me with shock. Her face became deathly
white. "No," she shook her head. "Please... please don't tell me
that's true..." she pleaded. Dad's look softened and suddenly he had his
arms round her and she was crying, sobbing into his chest and saying
"no" over and over again, and it was the scariest moment in my life.
I had never seen my mom cry before, and I had somehow lost control of the
situation, with no idea what was going on.
"What?" I demanded from them. "What's going
on?"
Mom looked at me with broken eyes and whispered,
"you're the Slayer?"
This was too much. I was so far beyond confused there isn't
even a word for it, and enough is enough. That night had held way too many
shocks for this particular Slayer. Slowly I nodded.
"Oh, honey," she said so softly that I could
hardly hear her speak. Dad, standing behind her, gave me the most
compassionate, most understanding, most heartbreaking look I had ever received,
and I started to cry. Everything was wrong, no one was acting like they were
supposed to, and I had no idea what was going on anymore...
Dad reached out for me but suddenly remembering, I flinched
away from his arm with a sharp cry and thrust a cross I had on a chain at his
arm. Immediately he recoiled with a snarl and I smelled the flesh burn.
"Let's just get away from here, Mom!" I said desperately, giving my
dad a smart kick to the chin that sent him smack into the wall. I took hold of
Mom's arm but she pulled away, and in a firm tone she had never used with me
before she commanded "No!"
I stared at her. She took a deep breath. "Rachel... we
have to talk. About a lot of things... Your father and me, both. Let's go sit
down..."
We had a very long talk that night. I cursed quite a bit,
and the phrase "Oh, my God" came up once or twice. Or fifty times.
The next day I went patrolling with Dad. My stomach didn't hurt entirely as
much as it had during the first day. I think I'll be seeing a lot more of my
dad from now on.
Yesterday Eddie came back. He was wearing purple 1970's
sunglasses and a T-shirt that said 'Watch Out!', which was actually scarier
than most of the vampires I've slain. Apparently he knew about the whole story
about the star-crossed lovers, and added some juicier details that kids just
don't want to know about their parents.
My grades are better now (I know, I know, I only got back
three days ago. Well, for your information, I redid the quizlette and aced it,
so there). And Mom came to supervise my training on Saturday. It's kinda weird
how things turned out, but hey, this is Sunnydale. Weird place.
So's LA, when you come to think about it.
Actually. . .
I'll let you know when I find someplace normal.